Dark Horse Music Store

Making a commercial for a retail location with a constrained schedule

The Problem

We love to work with creative clients! Michael at Dark Horse is always brimming with amazing ideas that are just looking for a way to make it onto the screen. We’ve had the pleasure of doing 2 projects with him that featured at the Winter Jam music festival. The major obstacle of both projects was limited time. Since these were shot inside of the store, we had to wait until closing hours and only had talent for a few hours. But atmosphere and energy were critical components in the final videos, so we had to make the most of each scene and setup.

Assessing the Problem

For “In The Shadows”, our goal was to create an impromptu gathering of musicians. Michael wanted to show potential students that passion can get you far, especially with a supportive network like Dark Horse provides.

Atmosphere is important when you want to tell an authentic story. So for the major scenes we set up the musicians and lighting to give us the most flexibility to let them jam while we shot. Everyone had a lot of fun and it showed in the final video.

Our Approach

When Michael decided to partner with us again the following year, we wanted to find a way to distinguish the video from “In The Shadows”. To do this, we partnered with a team of creatives to add a new level of collaboration. We were all spread out and had limited communication, so to keep everyone in sync, Odd!Life Studios hosted video conferencing and live editing sessions. These turned out to be a blast and helped everyone to build trust with each other.